Cricket

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE WIN KEEPS SURREY HOPES ALIVE

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22 August 2008

Surrey beat Northamptonshire by 63 runs  (NatWest Pro40)
Surrey drew with Somerset  (LV County Championship)

Stewart Walters (right) celebrates reaching his half century

SURREY KEPT their faint hopes of promotion to Division One of the NatWest Pro40 alive with a convincing win over the Northamptonshire Steelbacks at The Oval last Sunday.

After losing the toss and being put in by Northants skipper Neil Boje, the Brown Caps batsman stuck to their task admirably, especially after losing opener Scott Newman early on for just six runs.

James Benning and Stewart Walters put on an excellent 89 for the second wicket. The young pair batted with maturity and intelligence to lay the groundwork for the rest of the line-up. Although Benning was caught behind off Andrew Hall shortly after reaching his fifty, Walters batted superbly and was unlucky to be bowled just nine runs short of his ton.

Mark Ramprakash bolstered the Surrey total with some big hitting towards the end. The skipper eschewed his normal calm approach and bludgeoned 36 off just 21 balls to leave the Brown Caps on an intimidating 268/6 off their 40 overs.

Northants were never in the match after making a disastrous start to their run-chase. Matthew Nicholson and Jade Dernbach did the early damage to leave the Steelbacks on 7-3.

Despite Riki Wessels 86-ball century, Surrey always looked comfortable. Spinners Usman Afzaal and Matthew Spriegel applied the pressure just when it was needed with some economical bowling in the middle overs and Northants eventually slumped to 205 all out off 36 overs.

Debutant Robert Frylinck claimed three of the Northants wickets as Surrey closed out a well-deserved victory.

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MARK RAMPRAKASH hit an unbeaten double hundred to help Surrey claim all five available batting points from their rain-affected draw at Somerset.

Somerset posted 401 for 3 in their first innings, with centuries from Marcus Trescothick and Zander de Bruyn, but with the weather limiting the amount of play possible, the captains decided against setting up an artificial run-chase on the final day.

Instead, Surrey looked to bat all day in a bid to claim maximum batting points.

Things were not looking rosy as Alan Butcher's charges reached 135 for 3 at lunch. But Ramprakash was clearly at his imperious best and soon took charge of proceedings. He dug in to reach his first 100 off 225 balls before unleashing his full armoury of shots as his team closed in on the magic 400 run mark.

The Surrey skipper eventually finished on 200 not out as the visitors reached their target with four overs to spare and leave Taunton with a valuable ten points.

Surrey now have five games left in their battle to stay in county cricket's top flight next season.

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